Travelling to the channel tunnel from'The North' in the evening

pjbennett

Hello

On the evening of Thursday 21 July. I will be travelling with my family from Birmingham to the Channel Tunnel. It's a trip that we make every year and we normally set off at 5am to avoid the rush hour on the M25. This year, we will be travelling in the evening. The earliest we can set off is 4pm, which would allow us to set off before rush hour at this end but potentially sit on the M25 for an hour or so, or, we let rush hour go at this end and set off at 7 and arrive at our first hotel in France at 1am which wouldn't be ideal as we have an early start and lots of driving to do the next day. What are people's thoughts on leaving here at 4 and sitting it out on the m25 with the hope of being at the tunnel for about 830? Do you think that this would be possible or am I being overly ambitious?

Thanks in advance.

EssexExile

Which way would you go? M6/A14/M11 only leaves you with a small bit of M25, admittedly a busy small bit. Can't help beyond that, I never go south of the river.

mgdavid

EssexExile wrote: »

Which way would you go? M6/A14/M11 only leaves you with a small bit of M25, ........

that's a good route, avoiding the worst of the M1.
You'd get to the M25 at about 6.30 so the worst of the rush will be over.
Don't forget to top up your Dartford Crossing online account with a few quid and make sure your vehicle reg is registered.

bigadaj

No perfect route but Cambridge around the A14M11 can be a real nightmare at peak hours as well.

This would probably be the best option of a bad bunch though.

bylromarha

Brum isn't North! It's the Midlands!

Personally would go M42, M40 to M25 - the anti clockwise route from Jct 16 to jct 3 has no hold up point like the bridge.

mgdavid

bylromarha wrote: »

Brum isn't North! It's the Midlands!

Personally would go M42, M40 to M25 - the anti clockwise route from Jct 16 to jct 3 has no hold up point like the bridge.

I read 'the north' in this context as a direction not a place; perfectly clear (as against the west or the south).

Your route would just have the horrendously busy section from the M1 round to the A3, best avoided. The advice generally is to minimise the distance spent on M25 in 'rush hour' (actually 4 to 6.30 pm)by whatever means possible.

zagfles

mgdavid wrote: »

I read 'the north' in this context as a direction not a place; perfectly clear (as against the west or the south).

West is probably more accurate than North if describing the direction of Birmingham from the Channel Tunnel

OP where are you headed? Thinking outside the box, have you considered eg an overnight Western channel crossing? It'll cost more but would save you a hotel night in France plus likely petrol and tolls.

nearlyrich

There are bits of the M25 which seem to have perpetual "rush hour" unless I have just ben unlucky..

mgdavid

nearlyrich wrote: »

There are bits of the M25 which seem to have perpetual "rush hour" unless I have just ben unlucky..

If you're from the 'north west' I can see why you would think that, it can be very busy 20 hours out of 24. Which is why the suggested route is to minimise the amount of M25 driven on.

Zagfles no need to have a gentle dig at me, it's the OP who said North; and I knew what he meant

tanith

bylromarha wrote: »

Brum isn't North! It's the Midlands!

Personally would go M42, M40 to M25 - the anti clockwise route from Jct 16 to jct 3 has no hold up point like the bridge.

Junction 16 onwards past Heathrow is more often heavily congested than not particularly durning rush hour which goes on way past 6;30.

bylromarha

mgdavid wrote: »

I read 'the north' in this context as a direction not a place; perfectly clear (as against the west or the south).

Your route would just have the horrendously busy section from the M1 round to the A3, best avoided. The advice generally is to minimise the distance spent on M25 in 'rush hour' (actually 4 to 6.30 pm)by whatever means possible.

If the OP had said the north, I'd agree with you. It's capitalised on the thread title, therefore the name of a place. Not a direction of travel.

Having travelled that part of the M25 at many times of day and different days of the week I've flowed through it more than I've stopped. Speed varied at times, and the M3 jct the most common place to stop totally, but the few times I've been the other way round, I've stopped more times for the bridge than I've flowed.

Plus OH used to travel the M1 daily - at that time of night M40 mostly moves, M1 mostly slows. Jct 9 the killer of the M40, but Luton to London the slow part of the M1.

Lets face it, there is no good way to do that journey. Experience sends me anti clockwise rather than clockwise.